Salut d'Amour
by lokyisa
Summary: When Sakura Haruno came to the Konoha University School of Music, she hadn't expected to be a student of the revered Tsunade, play second violin in a string quartet, or - most of all - run into her ex-boyfriend Sasuke Uchiha.
1. Prologue

I stood backstage, nervously plucking the strings on my violin. It was the day of my big audition to the school of my dreams and I couldn't let anything distract me. Unfortunately, my emotions were already running high.

"You're going to do great." My mom had driven me to my audition - the school had auditions all over the country, it was crazy. She was my number one supporter.

"Thanks Mom," I took a deep breath. Out of all the days for me to get stage fright, why did it have to be today?

"I'm so proud of you," she continued. I could see tears in her eyes. "You're so much like your father."

Those were her last words to me before I had to leave her. Anxiously, I listened to the other candidates - students my age who also had the dream to go to Konoha University and attend its prestigious music program. I took a few more deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. I had already made it this far in the process, I thought to myself. Everyone who wanted to audition on violin had to submit a recording online. It gave me hope that someone had seen my audition and decided that I was good enough to move forward with the process.

I listened to the music that was coming from the stage, hoping to distract myself from the sudden onslaught of nerves. The girl before me was playing her Paganini caprice at record-breaking speeds. Show off. Or maybe she was just nervous.

I didn't have much time to think about it. The girl stepped off stage (were there tears in her eyes?) and it was my turn.

I could barely see anything when I stepped on stage. I tried not to think about the fact that my fate was sealed by the few people in the audience. No, I couldn't think of that if I wanted to succeed. Instead, I pictured myself in the living room, practicing for my mom like always.

"Sakura Haruno," a voice called out from the audience, making me jump. "We're ready when you are."

I nodded, hoping that I wouldn't start shaking when I was performing. Slowly, I raised my violin in position and gave my accompanist a nod. The piano started immediately, playing the first few measures of the concerto that I had been perfecting for months.

When I started to play, the feelings of insecurity left me immediately. I was the music. Everything was almost second nature to me when I was on stage performing. It was something that I lived for. When I was a child, I would always listen to my dad practice the violin. There was something in the way that he played that made me feel like I was observing something reverent - almost private. The passion that he exhibited in his playing was so amazing, I knew I had to play myself.

I started playing violin as soon as we could find an instrument small enough for me. Practicing was never a problem for me, I couldn't wait to get my hands on my instrument everyday. There was something about music that I couldn't get enough of. I could experience every emotion, anything I wanted, just by picking up my violin.

The audition passed by in a blur after the first piece. It was like a dream, really.

When it was over, I could hear the hurried writing of the few audience members. "Thank you." It was a different voice that spoke this time. "You will have your results in soon."

I left the stage, running into my mom almost immediately after I exited the stage door. "You were incredible," she beamed. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks." I grinned back at her. Although I would have to wait a month or so before I found out whether or not I made it into the music school, I knew that I had performed my best.

The news came exactly a month later:

 _Dear Sakura Haruno,_

 _Congratulations! It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Konoha University Strings Faculty and the Board of Admissions have granted you acceptance into the Classical Music - Performance program at the University of Konoha for the following school year._

 _You have been assigned to study with Dr. Tsunade, our violin professor and artist-in-residence at Konoha University._

 _We look forward to hearing back from you!_

 _Sincerely,_

 _Hiruzen Sarutobi  
Dean of the College of Music_

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This is a different sort of story from what I'm used to writing, so I hope you like it! The Sasuke/Sakura drama will come later in the story, I promise. :) Please let me know what you think, the first chapter will be up sometime this week hopefully!

For anyone who might be wondering where the next chapter of _All Good Things_ is, I promise it's coming soon and I haven't been neglecting it!


	2. Chapter 1

"I'm going to miss you," my mom said. We had just finished unpacking the contents of our suitcases into my dorm room. We had only packed the essentials - my mom would ship anything else that I needed during the school year.

"I'll miss you too," I replied. As ready as I had been to go out on my own, I was suddenly a little sad. I wouldn't be going home until Thanksgiving break.

"You're going to be great." She grinned at me, clearly trying to hide the fact that she felt sad too. "After all, your father went here too." She had been bringing Dad up a lot lately.

"Thanks, Mom." I smiled back.

She sighed. "I have to go catch a flight back home now. Are you sure you're going to be okay?" That last part was a joke.

"Yeah, go ahead."

She gave me a hug. "I'll see you in November. That doesn't mean I don't want you to call me at least every week though!"

"I know." I nodded.

I walked her outside, where the taxi she had called was waiting at the curb.

"I love you." She gave me another hug before getting in the cab.

"Love you too, Mom." I watched the taxi drive away, suddenly feeling alone. Ever since my father had died when I was thirteen, my mom and I had gotten closer. We were all we had left.

I made my way back to the dorm room. It was mostly unpacked - my bed was made and all of my clothes had been unpacked and put away. I just had to put out the few wall decorations I had managed to pack and I would be done.

The other half of the room remained blank - my roommate hadn't arrived yet. I wondered if she was ever going to show up, the dorm check-in was about to end in the next few minutes.

She showed up about half an hour later, past check-in time.

"Hey!" A blonde girl entered the room, her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. I noticed she was pulling a huge luggage bag along with two duffels that she was carrying. "You must be my roommate. It's nice to finally meet you, my name's Ino Yamanaka."

"Sakura Haruno." I smiled and stood up from my bed. "Do you need any help?" I looked at her bags.

"I think I'm good." Ino grinned and unceremoniously dropped her bags on the floor. "This is all I have for now, my mom wouldn't let me take more on the plane."

I nodded. "I only brought two suitcases full of stuff."

"Sorry it took me so long to get here." Ino began to zip open her bags and unpack. "I got here about five minutes after check-in, but the RA gave me some trouble. I spent a lot of time arguing with them." She sighed and shook her head. "So, what's your major?"

"Violin performance," I answered.

"No way!" She grinned. "I'm harp performance. Do you have strings orientation tomorrow too?"

I nodded. "Eight o' clock."

As Ino began to make her bed, we continued to talk. I found out that she was taking lessons from Konan, the harp professor at Konoha University, that she was looking for a good balance of having a social life and doing well in classes, and that she loved the color purple.

"So are you seeing anyone right now?" Ino asked. She had just finished making her bed and was now unpacking her clothes. I found myself wondering how she was able to fit so much into one suitcase.

I shook my head. "Currently not..." I trailed off, considering what I was about to say. "I haven't dated anyone since my junior year of high school, actually."

"Tell me all about it," Ino insisted. "Did you break it off?"

"No," I admitted. "He did. We met at a chamber music camp and hit it off immediately. We did the long distance thing for about a year, but it ended up not working out." I sighed.

"Sorry to hear that." Ino looked up from where she was sorting through a stack of t-shirts. "I'm single too, if it makes you feel any better."

I smiled, despite myself. "What about you?" I asked. "When was your last relationship?"

"It ended a few months ago." Her response was very matter-of-fact. "It was boring, so I ended it."

We ended up talking until about one in the morning, when I insisted that we needed to get some sleep.

* * *

"Welcome to the music school of Konoha University." I stared up at Tsunade - the woman who was considered one of the greatest violinists of our time - as she talked on stage. I, along with the rest of my peers, were at the orientation in one of the larger recital halls on campus.

"The time you spend here is going to be some of the most challenging years of your life," she continued, "but don't worry. The faculty is here to help you and shape you into world-class musicians."

I took a deep breath, wondering what I had gotten myself into. The girl beside me seemed to have the same idea. She fidgeted nervously with a lock of her black hair. I wondered what instrument she played, and if I would have her as competition.

After a few more words from Tsunade, the rest of the string faculty introduced themselves (we were separated into instrument groups). I gaped at how many there were, and how many faces I recognized. It dawned on me that I was finally in the school of my dreams.

"Thank you for coming to orientation," Tsunade concluded, looking confidentially around the room. "I look forward to seeing the work that you will do this year."

"She's terrifying." The girl who was sitting beside me gave me a stricken look. I realized that she had the most interesting eye color I had ever seen - lavender.

"She's my private lessons teacher," I admitted. I had specifically auditioned to be her student, in fact.

"Good luck," she replied.

"My name's Sakura Haruno," I told her. I might as well try to make some friends on my first day of class.

"Hinata Hyuuga." She smiled. Hinata looked friendly enough, I decided.

"So what's your instrument?" I asked her.

"Cello," Hinata said. "I have Kurenai."

"I love the cello." I grinned.

We filed out of the auditorium and made our way to our nine o' clock classes (those who had them). For the first day, all eight o' clock classes had been cancelled and orientation took its place. Luckily for me, I only had eight am classes on Tuesday and Thursday so I wouldn't have to wake up early normally.

My first class of the day was Ear Training I - something that I was already dreading, especially when I saw Hinata's private lessons teacher, Kurenai, at the front of the room. Hastily, I took a seat next to a boy that had a bored expression.

"It's nice to see all of you," Kurenai smiled at us. "We're going to start today by taking an exam so I know where you are all standing on your ear training skills. The majority of the exam will be listening, with one written question at the bottom. Do your best, this will not be for a grade." I heard a few sighs of relief after she said those words.

She handed out a test to everyone in the class. I took a look at the paper that was in front of me. There were twenty questions, the last one being "Transcribe the tune of 'Happy Birthday' below in C Major."

Kurenai sat at the piano and played a few chords and melodic lines while I, and most of the class, struggled to follow along and write what we heard. While I prided myself on having great tuning on my violin, I realized that those skills did not necessarily relate to what we were doing in this class - at least, not as much as I had thought. I would have to work extra hard to get my skills up.

When I reached the end of the exam, it was mostly guesswork. How was I supposed to write "Happy Birthday" without any music? I noticed that the boy beside me finished the last portion within minutes. Once he was done, he handed his paper to Kurenai and left. I stared blankly at him as he walked out the door. Either he had no idea what he was doing or he was some sort of genius.

I was one of the last to leave the classroom.

My next class before Orchestra was Theory I. I was less worried about this class because I had already taken music theory in high school. Hopefully, I thought, I would have somewhat of an advantage.

I walked inside of the classroom, looking around for any familiar faces. My roommate, Ino Yamanaka, was a music major too - a harpist. We had talked a lot the night before, but I hadn't even thought about asking her about her schedule. To my luck, she was sitting in the classroom.

"Hey Ino!" I greeted my roommate as I took a seat beside her.

"Sakura!" She beamed back at me. "Sorry I didn't get a chance to sit by you at the orientation. I was sort of five minutes late."

"It's fine," I replied. Something told me that Ino wasn't always very punctual, especially after her late arrival the night before.

"So how are your classes so far?" Ino asked. "This is my first of the day."

I shrugged. "I'm not so sure how I did on our assessment in Ear Training." I explained what we had to do.

"Well, that's what the class is for." Ino said. "You'll learn how to do everything... Hey." Her voice was suddenly at a whisper. "Look at that guy. I don't think I've ever seen someone so hot."

I looked up from where I was sitting, only to meet eyes with an attractive boy with dark hair and even darker eyes. Although his features were basically perfect, there was a look of disinterest that was all too familiar to me. When he saw me, his eyes widened for a second. Then, he looked away.

"Do you know him?" Ino stared, noticing the exchange between us.

"Sadly," I replied. It felt like my stomach was sinking through the floor. What was he _doing_ here? "That's my ex-boyfriend."

Ino's eyes widened. "What!? Why didn't you tell me he was going here?"

"I didn't know," I admitted.

"You didn't tell me he was so..." She trailed off. "I want more details," Ino decided.

"Later," I conceded.

I didn't realize that he was near me until I heard his voice.

"Sakura." He was standing beside me now. I wasn't prepared for this.

I looked up at him, trying not to look as startled as I felt. "Hey, Sasuke," I greeted him. "I didn't know you were going here."

He smirked. "It was sort of a last minute change. Family stuff, you know."

Oh, I knew. "Well, it's good to see you," I lied.

He nodded. "We'll have to catch up sometime."

Once he moved to sit by the loud blonde boy in the back of the room - another familiar face from chamber music camp, I realized, a loud blonde boy named Naruto - I gave Ino a look. "I don't know why he's here," I told her. "I thought he was going to Suna for school."

Ino patted me on the back reassuringly. "Maybe this will be the only class you have with him." I could tell she was burning with curiosity.

"Hopefully," I muttered.

The professor walked in then, causing the entire class to fall silent. He was tall and had silver hair - I knew who he was immediately.

"Hello," he said cheerfully. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, the professor of piano here at Konoha University. This semester, I've been coerced by my colleagues into teaching the Theory I class. Although this is the first out of five classes that you may take here, I have to warn you that Music Theory is often one of the hardest classes that you will take at our school. Since it's so challenging, students will often find themselves... weeded out, if you will." His face was pleasant, but the faces of my peers ranged from shock to terror. "You can call me Kakshi, by the way. Unless the Dean is here, then you have to call me Dr. Hatake."

I repressed a shudder. I had heard about how intense the music classes at Konoha University could get. That was part of the reason why I had taken some music theory courses in high school - to prepare for this.

"Study buddies?" Ino whispered, while Kakashi handed out his own exams.

I nodded, watching the stack of exams making their way towards me.

It wasn't as bad as I thought, to my relief. Because I had already taken some music theory, I was able to answer most of it. There were only a few questions that I really had difficulty with. At least I felt comfortable in one of my classes.

Sasuke, I noticed, finished his exam first. He was shortly followed by the same spiky-haired kid who had completed everything so fast in Ear Training. Once I was finished, a few minutes after them, I waited outside of the classroom for Ino.

"This is going to be a pain," Ino complained, once she was out of the room. "I was serious about being study buddies, by the way."

I had an hour break after that, until the class I was most anxious to go to - orchestra. We had auditioned the day before classes started and I wanted to see where I had placed in the ensemble. It was rare for freshman to make it in the university's top orchestra, but somehow I had managed it. To tell the truth, I wasn't too surprised. Playing the violin was what I did - it came natural to me, like breathing.

When it was finally time for class, and I knew I wouldn't look like a huge dork coming in too early, I hurried over to the orchestra rehearsal room. It was the moment I had been waiting for, besides studying violin under Tsunade of course. I had been dying to do something else that didn't involve thinking about Sasuke. I was kind of furious with him for even being here, even though I knew I was being unreasonable.

The room was exactly how I had remembered during all of the tours of the campus I had taken in high school - huge and magnificent. I didn't have to worry about being the earliest person in the room, there were already several students sitting in their chairs and warming up. To my surprise, I saw the boy with spiky hair from before assembling a bassoon. Strange, I wouldn't have guessed that to be his instrument.

Carefully, I made my way to where the violins sat, searching for my name. Someone had painstakingly written everyone's names on sticky notes and attached them to their music stands.

I scanned the stands in the area. When I found my name, I gasped. Although it was in the middle of the section, the note said: _Sakura Haruno,_ _First_ _Violin._ After glancing at the stand to my right, I realized that I was the last one before the second violins began. Still, I was playing first violin.

Eagerly, I opened the folder of music we would be working on for our next concert that was sitting on my stand. The music looked challenging, but I was ready for it. The works included Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Haydn.

More students flooded into the room while I warmed up, including Hinata. I gave her a small smile when I saw her enter the room, which she returned. I was glad that there was at least one familiar face in the room with me.

A pale boy with black hair sat down in the chair to my left, regarding me cooly.

I tried not to let the look on his face get to me. "Er, hi," I said. "I'm Sakura, what's your name?"

"Sai," he replied. "First violin."

"You're a freshman, right?" I remembered seeing him at the strings orientation that morning. "That's crazy."

"It was easy, actually." He smirked. "I've always played first violin."

So had I. "Me too," I replied, "but I'm really just happy with making the top orchestra, honestly."

"You do that." He turned his attention to his violin, which looked pretty expensive.

I sighed. I didn't think I was going to end up by the most stuck-up member of the orchestra, but here I was. The girl who sat next to me - an upperclassman who seemed appalled that she was playing second violin - wasn't much better. She basically ignored me.

"Good afternoon!" I heard a booming voice greet us from the front of the room. It was Jiraya, the percussion professor and conductor of the Konoha University Orchestra. He was quirky, but incredible at his job. "I see you've all found your chair placements. Don't get too discouraged if you aren't in a position you like - there's always next year. Or not." He laughed.

We started right in on the music, just like I had wanted. It was better that way, I thought. By the time we were done reading through the Tchaikovsky, I had forgotten all about Sasuke and Sai. Despite the rough start, I knew I was where I needed to be.

* * *

"So..." Ino said. "You and Sasuke..." We had just sat down in the dining hall for lunch and she was already hounding me.

"Yeah," I sighed. I still hadn't gotten over our encounter in Music Theory, as much as I had wanted to forget about it. "There's really not much more to say."

"Sorry, Sakura." Ino apologized. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." I guess she noticed the look on my face. "I was just curious about what happened. Sometimes my friends back home tell me I'm too nosey."

"No, it's okay," I responded. "I actually haven't talked about it that much. When we first met, it was like we were perfect for each other. Even though it was long distance, we made it work. In fact, a week before we broke up, everything seemed fine. I still don't know what happened." Admitting everything to Ino only made it feel fresh again.

"Did he say anything?" Ino asked. "I mean... about why he broke it off?"

"Not really." I shook my head. "That's what was so infuriating about it. He said it was the long distance, but he was never bothered by that before so I was sure it was a lie. That, and he never really gave me a straight answer. It took me forever to get over it."

Ino looked like she was about to say something, then she seemed to think better of it. "Well, I hope he realizes what he's missing out on," she said.

I stared down at the salad I had purchased from the dining hall. "I doubt it." I had already seen that Sasuke had admirers, and it was only the first day of class. It was like chamber music camp all over again, but this time he didn't even notice me.

Why did I care so much?

* * *

The next day, I was determined to get over everything from the day before. I wasn't going to let my ex-boyfriend ruin going to the school of my dreams. Unfortunately, having Piano Class I at eight o' clock in the morning wasn't the best way to start the day. I had never been very good at the piano and adding that with being sleep deprived from staying up with Ino the night before didn't help.

"I swear," I muttered to Ino when we left the room. "This is going to be the death of me."

"You'll get it," Ino insisted. "It takes a lot of practice." She was one to talk - Ino had gotten most of the concepts right away.

The next class I that I had was Chamber Ensemble - something that I had been looking forward to almost as much as Orchestra. I loved playing in a smaller group with other students my age. From what I had heard, the small ensembles at Konoha University were mainly student led. Faculty would be there for us to give guidance occasionally, but it would allow more artistic freedom than orchestra.

When I got to the class, my classmates and I were separated into various chamber ensembles. Since I was strings, I was told that I would probably end up in a string quartet.

To my surprise, Kurenai and another professor named Asuma (I think he taught viola) were sorting us out into ensembles. "Your ensembles have been pre-determined by the faculty," Kurenai explained. "We have chosen what we believe are the best positions for all of you. That means," she gave us a stern look, "no switching."

I found myself in a string quartet consisting of myself, Hinata, the spiky haired boy from the day before and Sai.

"Oh great," I said under my breath when I found out that Sai was in the ensemble. Better yet, he was first violin. I would be playing second part. Usually, I would be fine with this. Second violin wasn't bad. It was the fact that I would be playing under Sai that bothered me.

"I suppose we should start by introducing ourselves," Sai began offhandedly. "My name is Sai. First violin." What was up with him and saying "first violin" constantly? He said it like it was a status symbol or something. Which, to him, it probably was.

"Hinata Hyuuga," Hinata introduced herself. "I know you already." She nodded at me. "We met at the strings orientation. I play cello," she added as an afterthought.

"Shikamaru Nara." The spiky-haired boy said.

"Don't you play bassoon?" I asked him, curious.

He shrugged. "I play a lot of instruments. Currently, I'm working on bassoon and viola... and piano."

I felt my eyes widen and then realized that they were looking at me expectantly. "Sakura Haruno," I said. "Second violin."

We were given our own practice room to work in, plus our own music folders (given to us by Kurenai). I looked at the pieces we were given to learn for the semester. They included an arrangement of the second movement of Beethoven's "Pathetique" sonata, Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" and Brahms' "String Quartet no. 3". I looked at the music, feeling excited. I loved all of those pieces.

Despite being cocky, I had to admit that Sai was a great violinist. His technique was basically flawless. Shikamaru proved to be just as good on viola as he had been on bassoon and Hinata's sound on the cello was beautiful and rich. All together, we sounded pretty great.

Reading through our music, we figured out what we needed to practice before we met again on Thursday at the same time.

That afternoon, I went to my first violin lesson - another part of college that I had anticipated since my first day. Studying under Tsunade was one of the most exciting and terrifying things that had ever happened to me.

"Come in." Tsunade had opened her door at exactly one o' clock to find me waiting outside. "It's nice to see you, Sakura Haruno."

"Thank you," I replied. I was sort of freaking out. Being this close to someone that I could only describe as a violin celebrity, I suddenly felt very inadequate.

"Your father was Kizashi Haruno, correct?" Tsunade asked, once I was inside her office - a large white room with large windows and tasteful decorations.

I nodded. "Did you know him?"

She smiled. "I went to school with him, actually. I was sad to hear that he passed away. He was a great musician and person."

Out of all of the topics I expected to discuss with Tsunade, this was not one of them. "Th-Thank you," I replied, completely caught off guard. "I always enjoyed hearing my father play."

"He was great," she agreed. "It's nice to see that his daughter decided to take after him."

"Thank you," I said again, flattered this time.

"Now," Tsunade said. "It's time to figure out your repertoire for the semester. I have a few pieces picked out for you already..." She reached for a notebook nearby that looked like it was covered in notes. "Grieg's 'Violin Sonata in C Minor, Op. 45'... just the first movement this semester, Elgar's 'Salut d'amour', and Chopin's 'Etude Op. 10, No. 4 in C Sharp Minor'. The last one is actually a piano piece that was transcribed for piano and violin. I think you'll have fun with it."

"That sounds great," I replied. I had heard of most of the pieces, besides "Salut d'amour".

"Let's see... Ah, yes. This will be good for you. I assume you know about our piano accompanying classes?" Tsunade looked at me from her notes.

"Er, sort of." I shrugged.

"Kakashi has asked me to assign a few of my students to his accompanying students," Tsunade explained. "That means you'll be working with another student out of his studio with both of us. It will be a good opportunity for you to grow musically with another person, plus it will be free of charge for you."

"Works for me," I replied. "Do we know who I'm working with?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thank you everyone for reading and for your kind reviews! I've really appreciated all of the feedback so far! I hope that you enjoy this chapter. :) So a lot of the pieces that I included are some of my favorites. Also, if you've never heard "Salut d'amour" before, I recommend checking it out.

Please let me know what you think! Thanks again!


	3. Chapter 2

"Is there a problem?" Tsunade raised her eyebrows.

"Well..." I trailed off. "He's sort of... my ex-boyfriend."

"I see." Tsunade's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Will this hinder your ability to work with each other?"

I sighed. I had always loved performing with Sasuke. In chamber camp, we had always been paired up with each other. Would that change?

"No," I decided. I wasn't going to be the weaker one in this arrangement. If anyone was going to call it off, it would have to be Sasuke.

"Good." To my surprise, she gave me a smile. "I think this will be good for you, honestly. If you can work with your ex, you can work with anyone. And Kakashi and I already decided that you two would make a good match. Playing-wise, I mean."

Great. I gave her a reluctant smile.

"Now," Tsunade stood up. "I want to hear some progress on your pieces by next week. You'll find that 'Salut d'amour' isn't too hard. Try to have most of the exposition of the Grieg learned as well."

I nodded. "See you later."

When I was out of her office, and far enough away, I groaned. Out of all my luck, how did I end up getting stuck with Sasuke? It was like chamber music camp all over again, without the excitement. This time, I was sure it would only be awkward.

When I told Ino later that day, her eyes widened. "She said that would be good for you?"

I sighed. "She said something about being able to work with anyone if I did this. Honestly, I'm starting to think she's just a sadist." We were sitting in the dining hall that evening, talking over dinner.

"Well..." Ino shrugged. "Maybe it'll help you work out some of your old problems with each other. You did say that you never got closure."

"It's not that easy," I replied. "You don't know Sasuke... he's never very open about how he feels. Not even really when we were dating, most of the time."

"Boys." She rolled her eyes.

We sat there for a moment while I listened to her talk about her day. It had been uneventful, Ino said. She didn't have many classes on Tuesday/Thursdays.

"I'm going to go practice." I stood up with my tray.

"I'll come with you," she sighed. "I don't want to get behind on my music, especially since we don't have much homework."

That night, I worked out all of my feelings from the past week by starting on my Grieg. It was passionate and dark, exactly what I needed. Just like when I was at home, practicing made me feel better immediately. Part of the reason I decided that I wanted to perform music professionally was because it allowed me to explore any emotion that I wanted. I could be anyone I wanted when I played my violin.

Once I was done working on the first part of the exposition, I switched to the Chopin. Tsunade had said the piece had originally been written for the piano, so it would be an interesting piece for Sasuke and me to play together. I liked it immediately, after listening to a recording of the piano piece on my phone. It was furious and required me to play basically as fast as I possibly could. I started off slowly, working out some of the harder melodic lines.

Then, I read through "Salut d'amour" like Tsunade had told me. Maybe it was just my mood at the time, but I didn't feel as connected with the piece. I had to admit, it was pretty, but very simple. I wondered why she had assigned the piece to me.

I was putting my violin back in its case, when I heard the door to my practice room open up slowly.

"Just a minute," I said, my back still turned. Ino had probably come to get me. "I'm just finishing up-"

I turned and saw Sasuke standing in the doorway. He looked hesitant for a second, but that look was quickly replaced by a smirk. "Expecting someone else?"

 _Is that any of your business?_ I thought. Instead, I decided to be civil. "Yeah, actually."

The smirk was still on his face. God, why did he have to look like that? Memories of meeting him at camp suddenly flooded through my head. Had that really been so long ago?

"Have you heard yet?" He asked me. "We're going to be working together this year."

Refusing to seem weak, I met his eyes. "I've heard," I told him. "I hope that won't be a problem."

Sasuke looked surprised for a moment. "Of course not," he replied. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay with it."

It was my turn to be surprised. Ever since we broke up, I had just assumed that he didn't want anything to do with me, or that he cared about how I was feeling. "I'll be fine," I answered. "It's not like we had much of a choice in the matter, anyway."

He shrugged. "I'm glad that you're okay with this. I've always liked performing with you. I hope that we can be friends."

"Friends." I only repeated his words. "I think I can do that." Besides, it's not like I had to spend all of my time with him. It had been a little over a year since we had broken up, which counted for something, right?

"Sakura I'm done-" Ino froze when she saw us together in my practice room. "Or I could come back in a few minutes..." She gave me a questioning look.

"That won't be necessary," Sasuke replied before I could say anything. "You're Ino, right? I don't think we've met yet. My name's Sasuke Uchiha."

Ino looked startled for a second, but recovered quickly. "We haven't," she answered. "It's nice to meet you."

Once he had left, my new friend spun around to face me. "What was that about?" Ino said.

"He wanted to ask me if I knew we were working together this year." I rolled my eyes. "He was nice enough, I guess. He even asked me if we could be friends now that we're going to be seeing each other a lot."

"Weird." Ino shrugged. "Maybe he does just want to be friends. Or maybe..." She grinned widely. "Maybe he wants to get back together."

I scoffed. "Of course not. He made it clear that he didn't want anything else to do with me. At least, I thought he didn't." From a look at the mirror that was in the practice room, I could tell I was scowling.

Ino was perceptive enough to know that I didn't want to talk about the breakup any further. "Well," she said. "Why don't we go back to our dorm? I think Netflix is calling my name."

We returned to our room that night and I tried not to think about Sasuke.

* * *

"Hey, Sakura!" The next morning at breakfast, I heard a loud voice calling my name.

"Naruto." I looked up to see a familiar blond face from camp. Naruto was Sasuke's best friend, and part of the reason we had gotten together in the first place. "It's good to see you."

"Sorry I haven't said hi yet." Naruto looked at me with a chagrined expression. "I've sort of been overwhelmed with everything going on."

"It's okay," I replied. I was surprised to find out that I meant it. Naruto had been a good friend, even after Sasuke had broken up with me. I think that we had a friendship of our own at camp. "This is Ino, by the way." I motioned to my roommate, who was sitting across from me.

Ino, who was not a morning person by any means, gave Naruto a sleepy smile. "Nice to meet you."

"We should hang out sometime!" Naruto grinned. "I think there's going to be a party sometime this week. I'll let you know!" He left us then, returning to his place on the other side of the dining hall.

"That might be fun." Ino seemed to perk up a little when she heard the word 'party'. "It wouldn't hurt to meet new people."

I shrugged. "Maybe."

I had Ear Training I then, so I had to go to class while Ino took some extra time to wake up. Something told me that she wasn't going to wake up this early every day, especially since she didn't have class until ten o' clock.

When I got to class, Kurenai was already handing out our graded exams from the class before. Wincing, I looked at my grade once I had gotten to my desk. On the top of the paper, "85" was written in red ink. Not bad, especially since I had guessed on some of the notes.

"Hey, Sakura." Shikamaru sat down in the desk next to me. Sitting on his desk, I could see a "105" on his exam. He had even answered the bonus question correctly. "How'd you do?"

"Eighty-five." I replied. "How are you already so good at this?"

"It's easy." He shrugged. Was he some sort of prodigy? Was that even the right word? "I thought about passing out of this class, but it would have been too troublesome to test out and take the next class." The funny thing about it was that he wasn't even bragging.

"Easy GPA points." I smiled, feeling like I would have to work a lot harder than him to get an A in the class.

Kurenai began class then, saying how surprised she was how poorly most of the class had performed on the exam. Apparently, my grade had been a lot better than I thought.

The rest of the day passed quickly. I still couldn't get enough of orchestra practice, even though the people I sat next to weren't very friendly (mostly Sai). Despite not having the best attitude, I had to admit - Sai was talented on the violin.

"Good job," I told Sai, after practice. Since we were in a string quartet together, I figured I might as well be friendly.

"I know." He smirked, finishing up packing his violin. "That's what happens when you practice." He walked away then.

I stared at him as he walked back to the instrument storage room to put his violin up.

"Not very personable, is he?" Shikamaru was standing next to my chair.

"He's kind of a jerk." I began packing up my own instrument. "Did you know him before now?"

"Not well," he replied. "I was in a few competitions with him growing up. He has great technique."

"I've noticed," I responded.

"Still," Shikamaru said, "he's good to work with. For the quartet, anyway." Despite having taken interest in something, Shikamaru still had the same bored expression. I wondered if that was just his personality.

"Hey, Sakura!" Ino approached us. She looked a lot more bubbly than I had seen her that morning. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Shikamaru," I explained. "He's in the quartet with me."

"I'm Ino." She was still beaming. "I heard you play like, a hundred instruments."

He snorted. "That's funny."

"He's basically a genius." I said dryly. Even though it was probably true.

Shikamaru accompanied us to lunch, where Ino carried the conversation mostly. Was it me, or was she flirting with him? I would have to ask her later.

After lunch, we went to our two o' clock seminar class, which would take place every Monday and Wednesday of the first half of the semester. It was boring most of the time, but it basically helped us figure out how everything worked in college and with our degree.

The rest of the week passed by uneventfully. Slowly, I adjusted to my new life.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for all of the positive feedback! This chapter might feel a little slow, but I needed to establish a little more before the storyline starts picking up. :) Please let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 3

The next few weeks passed by, and everyone slowly settled in to their own routines. It was interesting to see how everybody handled the freedom of college. Some, like Ino, stayed up late at night (often at parties) and woke up before classes with minutes to spare (somehow Ino managed to look great every day despite that). Others, like me, came up with a complete practice schedule and even planned extra hours in the morning to work out all of the music they were assigned. There were even some students who seemed like a wreck, but managed to have everything put together at the last minute (think Naruto).

"Ugh," Ino groaned. "I don't see how you can do this."

I shrugged. "It's not that hard, you're just over-thinking it. Look," I pointed to one of the Theory problems that Ino was struggling with. "If you just keep the key signature in mind, that's a perfect fourth."

She shook her head. "There's too much going on. I think Kakashi's trying to fail me." Ino was making a B, but barely.

Kakashi hadn't promised to go easy on us, that was true. After three weeks of Theory I had gone by, I was grateful for taking some extra classes in high school. Thankfully, nothing was very new in Theory I, besides counterpoint.

"You can do this," I promised. "It just takes a lot of practice."

"Everything takes a lot of practice," she mumbled, but continued to work on the problem anyway.

It was a Friday evening and we were sitting in the student union building - a few buildings away from the music building, which was where we spent most of our time. After being cooped up inside a practice room for an hour and a half, Ino demanded that we go somewhere else to study. On Monday we were having our first music theory test, and everyone was sort of freaking out.

"I can't believe we have to do this right now," Ino complained. "All I want to do is think about the party Kiba's having tonight." Kiba Inuzuka, a percussionist, was becoming well-known for his parties. Ino, along with Naruto, frequently attended them.

"You're almost done," I insisted. "You don't want to worry about this later tonight."

"You should come with me this time." Ino looked up from her work. I could tell she was dying to do anything else. "It's actually a lot of fun, you'll get to know everyone better. Well, everyone who goes to the parties." A few people who were regulars that Ino talked to included Tenten (a horn player in the orchestra), Chouji (a tuba player, who was also Shikamaru's best friend), and Karin (a vocalist who I hadn't had much of a chance to talk to).

"I have to practice tonight." I practiced every evening, unless it was Saturday. That was sort of my break day.

"You always say that," Ino replied, "and while I do admire your dedication to the violin, wouldn't it be fun to take a break?"

"That's what Saturdays are for." I replied, erasing something on my own homework.

Ino shook her head. "Well, we're doing something fun tomorrow, whether you like it or not."

I considered this. Sometimes my mom would worry about me practicing too much and not socializing, but she didn't understand. No one did. I _had_ to practice regularly - I loved it. Plus, I wouldn't have gotten this far if I hadn't been practicing constantly. Still, part of college was making friends. Friends who weren't your roommate or part of your string quartet...

"Okay," I agreed. "We can do something fun tomorrow."

"I think we both need to find more balance." Ino grinned, now that she was getting her way. "You need to have more fun and I need to study more. Why don't we just agree to help each other?"

"Deal." I couldn't help wondering what I was getting myself into.

* * *

Once we were done, I made my way to the music building. At this point, I had already scoped out all of the practice rooms and picked out my favorite one. To my delight, it was open. Since it was a Friday night there were less students in the building, but I could still hear the faint sounds of others practicing from my spot in the building.

I decided to work on violin first. At this point, I had learned all of my Grieg (it was still a little rough, though), most of the Chopin, and all of the Elgar ('Salut d'amour'). Sighing, I pulled out my part to 'Salut d'amour'. My lesson that week had gone alright - Tsunade was happy with my progress on the Grieg, at least, but when we got to 'Salut d'amour', she had a lot to say.

"Sakura." Tsunade considered me for a moment. She was sitting down by her desk and had a pencil in her hand that she was using to write comments on my music. "You have all of the notes right, but in every other way that was completely wrong."

"Er," I stared back at her. "What do you mean?" I had been used to Tsunade's blunt demeanor - I had even heard of her reputation for this before I went to college.

"This is a love song, Sakura." She picked up her own violin and moved to stand beside me. "You have to treat it that way if you want it to sound anything like the composer intended. Now," Tsunade positioned her violin, ready to play. "Listen."

I listened to my teacher, who was also a world-renowned violinist, play through the first few lines of my piece. She played the same notes that I had, but it was incredibly different from how I had played the piece. Tsunade stretched the phrases at the right parts, creating something so poignant that it almost brought tears to my eyes.

"Do you see?" She gave me a small smile, seeing the look on my face. "You have to give it the attention it needs, and it will pay off so well. I know you think this is simple, but musically it can be rather challenging." I watched as she made a few notes on my music, mostly where I needed to focus on bringing out the melody and stretching the ends of phrases. "I want you to research the piece for your next lesson. Maybe that will help. Besides, you should be researching all of your pieces..."

I had done my research. 'Salut d'amour' was written by Edward Elgar as an engagement present for his wife. A translation of the title (which had originally been in German) was "love's greeting". It was beautiful and very romantic.

Too bad it was hard for me to relate to those feelings at the moment.

I took a few seconds before I began to play the piece, thinking about if I had ever been in love. There had been Sasuke, of course, but I hadn't been ready to delve into those emotions since our breakup.

I sighed. For me, the best way to emote to a piece was to make up a story in my head while I performed. It had worked great before. I didn't have to think about Sasuke, I decided. It had sounded a little better that time, I thought. Maybe not as great as Tsunade, but I hoped that it would be enough progress. I had even worked on stretching the phrases at the right times.

After I was done with 'Salut d'amour', I moved onto my Grieg. It had easily become one of my favorite pieces to work on, and it showed. I focused on working on specific sections that were still giving me trouble. Then, I worked on the last half of the Chopin that I hadn't learned so far. That was harder, but satisfying. Part of me was excited for how it would sound with Sasuke's part.

When I was done with my violin, I reluctantly moved on to the piano that was in the room. Piano class had been the bane of my existence since I came to college. I cursed myself for never taking lessons before. We had a scale quiz about every week and a playing test every two weeks. By some horrible turn of events, I had both next week.

"Stupid fingers." I mumbled, trying to work out the fingering for an E Major scale. It shouldn't have been that hard, the fingering was all the same after all, but for some reason my left hand couldn't keep up.

Someone knocked on the door. I stopped playing immediately, feeling embarrassed. To my surprise, Sasuke was standing outside the door.

"Come in," I said.

He opened the practice room door, smirking. "I thought I heard beginner piano in here." Sasuke had been friendly to me the past few weeks, when we talked. Which wasn't much.

"You could hear me?" I resisted the urge to put my face on my hands. "God, this is awful."

"Can I help you?" He offered.

I looked at him blankly for a second. "You don't have to do that, Sasuke. I know you have a lot of stuff you need to practice too."

"I was just working on my accompanying music." He brushed it off like his offer was nothing. "Let me help you. I need a break."

Hesitantly, I watched him close the door and walk over to where I was still perched on the bench. "I don't know if this can be saved," I admitted. "I'm sort of hopeless at the piano." Strangely, talking to him wasn't as awkward as I had thought it would be. We could be civil adults, right?

"Play your scale again," Sasuke instructed.

Clumsily, I played my sad two-octave E Major scale. Somehow, my fingers seemed to get off in my left hand even worse than ever.

"Do you see this?" I complained, indicating my hand, which was somehow two keys off from where it was supposed to be.

He nodded. "You're switching your finger over too early here." To demonstrate, he played the scale perfectly, even while leaning over the piano. "See? That's supposed to change with your fourth finger."

"Okay..." I attempted the scale again, this time getting better results. The pacing was still way off, though.

"That was better," he encouraged. "Just make sure your hands are a little more curved, like this." To my surprise, he reached out and adjusted my hands with his own. It was the first time he had touched me since we had broken up, and I suddenly felt a little hot.

"I'll try to remember that." I was suddenly feeling a little out of breath. _God,_ I thought, _get ahold of yourself, Sakura._

"Are you okay?" Sasuke looked concerned.

"I'm fine," I answered. "I think I've been in here a little too long, to be honest."

"Didn't want to go to Kiba's party?" Of course he would know about that.

"I should be asking you the same thing." I raised my eyebrows.

"I like practicing on Friday nights the best." Was his response. "It's a lot less crowded. I give myself more free time on Saturdays."

"Me too," I replied quietly. "Ino keeps saying I'm crazy."

"You've always been dedicated to your music." Sasuke answered. "How are your violin pieces coming?"

I shrugged. "They're okay... I'm having trouble with 'Salut d'amour'. Emoting, I mean. That's what Tsunade said." How awkward could I sound?

"I know what you mean." What was that supposed to mean? Was he having trouble too? "The Chopin's pretty interesting too. I've actually played that piece before."

"Of course you have," I smiled, despite myself. Sasuke had always been amazing on the piano. The way he interpreted music was brilliant, I thought, and I had always looked forward to collaborating with him, even when we weren't dating. "Tsunade says we need to start practicing together soon. The Chopin sounds like it's going to be hard to line up."

He nodded. "Kakashi said the same thing." He paused for a second. "Do you remember in camp, when we had to learn that Beethoven piano trio and you said that you would rather die than play with that cellist?"

I laughed, despite myself. "Yeah, I remember. She ended up not being that bad." I had actually been jealous of her, and way too dramatic. Thankfully, I had mostly grown out of my high school insecurities. "Why?"

"I think we finally started sounding like a real piano trio after that." Sasuke looked at me like he was considering something. I wondered if he talked like this to the other music students - probably not, it took him a while to open up to anyone. He probably felt more comfortable because we already had a history. "I hope that I don't get in the way of you connecting with your music." God, how could he say the one thing that I had been trying _not_ to think about?

"You're not getting in the way of anything," I snapped. Then I sighed. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "I think I've been in here for too long."

"I know what you mean," he replied. "It's getting late."

"I should probably go now." I checked the time on my phone. It was already nine o'clock. How long had I been here, anyway? "Ino wants to do something 'fun' tomorrow, and I need to get as much rest as I can before that." I had always been practical.

Sasuke smirked again. "Good luck with that."

"I"ll try," I replied.

* * *

The next day, after she woke up, Ino and I ended up going to see a movie.

"I don't know if I can handle another party right now," Ino admitted, as part of her explanation. She was pretty hungover the next morning.

"A movie sounds great." I smiled, feeling like I had gotten out of something terrifying. Plus, it was nice to get off campus for once.

We ended up seeing a romantic comedy that came out recently. While I still wasn't feeling very romantic (thanks Tsunade), I still enjoyed the movie. It was a basic plot, with two attractive actors that ended up getting together in the end despite all of the odds. I wondered if real life could ever be like the movies.

After the movie, Ino insisted that we go eat in the city - after all, there were a few restaurants that looked pretty good close to the movie theater. I agreed to that, not feeling like eating in the dining hall again. Besides, this was Saturday and I was supposed to relax a little. We decided on a moderately-priced sushi restaurant down the road.

It was over dinner that I talked to Ino about what had happened last night with Sasuke. "I can't tell what he's doing," I admitted. "He's not even acting like himself." The Sasuke I had known had been more reserved, more aloof. It wasn't until we started dating that he began to open up to me a little more. After we broke up, it was like nothing had changed at all. "How can he go back to that like nothing's changed?" I asked Ino, after explaining everything that was going on in my head.

"Hmm." Ino took a bite of her California roll while she thought about what I said. "He's definitely being confusing. I don't know Sakura, maybe he feels bad. Maybe he does want to get back together. Would you even want that?"

"I don't know." I sighed. Out of all the chances, I had never thought I would even see Sasuke again. "After how he acted, I think I just need to be friends first. I don't know if I'm ready to put myself out there again like that."

"How bad was the breakup?" Ino asked me. I knew she had been curious.

"It wasn't bad for him at all," I replied bitterly. And for all I knew, it hadn't been. "I never heard from him again since we came here. And he seems fine."

"It sounds like you're still harboring some resentment." She grabbed another roll with her chopsticks. "I would tell you talk to him, but Sasuke doesn't seem like much of a talker."

"He's not usually," I responded. "Until recently, apparently."

"Do you want my advice?" Ino asked. "Don't do anything at all right now. Wait and see if he does anything else confusing, then call him out on it."

"I don't want to do anything," I mumbled. But I knew she was right.

"I think I'm going to ask Shikamaru out," Ino said, changing the subject. "He's cute."

I had, of course, seen Shikamaru watching Ino whenever we were in the same vicinity of him - something that happened when Ino was around most boys, actually. I knew that he would say yes if she just asked him.

"You should do it," I answered. "I think he likes you."

* * *

The next week, Tuesday, during our string quartet practice, Tsunade poked her head into the practice room where we were rehearsing. "I've been looking for you four." Without warning, she stepped into the room. I immediately tried to hide my frustration with Sai, who had been telling me that my bowing was wrong the entire practice.

"How would you like a wedding gig?" Tsunade began, when she saw that we were all just staring blankly up at her. Despite being in college for a few weeks, we were still a little shocked seeing her interrupt our practice. "The daughter of the school's President is getting married in late October and they would like a quartet from the university to come play. You'll get payed and it will be good experience. We decided to ask your quartet first seeing that you're made up of freshman and aren't entered in any competitions yet." She stared at us expectantly.

For a few seconds, we stared at each other, not knowing what to say. I saw Shikamaru shrug and nod. "We can do that," he said.

"It's a good opportunity," I replied.

Sai was the next one to speak. "What kind of music will we be playing?"

"I have a list for you right here." Tsunade handed Sai a sheet of paper. I saw his eyes widen when he looked at it. "The daughter wants more... popular music to be played at her wedding. Of course, we can find arrangements for you to use, I'm sure. It might be a good idea to play your 'Pathetique' movement, too." She added that last part as an afterthought.

She left shortly after that, promising to get the music to us as soon as possible. For a moment, I wondered what we had gotten ourselves into.

"It's a lot of music," Shikamaru remarked, before handing the paper to me. "But I think we can do it."

I looked at the paper. It looked like it had been handwritten by someone:

 _Wedding Music:_

 _On the Radio - Regina Spektor_  
 _Starlight - Muse  
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire  
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap  
Fidelity - Regina Spektor  
Skinny Love - Bon Ivor  
The Luckiest - Ben Folds  
Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes  
Somewhere Only We Know - Keane  
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon  
Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's  
Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol  
Stitches - Shawn Mendes  
Cough Syrup - Young the Giant  
Riptide - Vance Joy  
Hey Brother - Avicii  
Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Ray_

"That is a lot of music," I replied. "How hard do you think it will be?" I handed the list to Hinata, so she could see what we had already agreed to play.

Shikamaru shrugged. "It's a lot of pop music, so probably not hard at all. We can probably learn about three or four a day."

"We'll have to meet up more," Sai decided. "Probably in the evenings."

I agreed. We would still have to practice our assigned string quartet pieces, especially since our Recital Hour performance was coming up. Thankfully, we only had to play one piece in front of our peers, and we had chosen the 'Pathetique' movement. "Maybe we can do Monday and Wednesday evenings?" That would mean seeing everyone four days in a row, but we had to learn the music. "At least, until the wedding's over."

"That works for me," Hinata nodded. "I'm here practicing then anyway." Most of us were.

"Good." Sai took the list back from Hinata. "I'll hold on to this." Since he was first violin, Sai acted like he was in charge of the quartet. "Let's continue the Schubert now..."

We looked at our music, finding the spot where we had left off before Tsunade interrupted. I decided not to focus on how stressful it would be to learn the entire list of music in a month by focusing on my part of 'Death and the Maiden'.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for all of your reviews! I'm trying to continue the story as fast as I can! I hope that this chapter developed a little more. I know Sasuke's a little AU in this, but I think that's normal for my writing anyway...

Please let me know what you think about this chapter! Also, the list of music for the wedding is all from Vitamin String Quartet music that I like. If you haven't heard of them before, I would look them up. :)


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** I'm back! Sort of! I'm sorry for dropping this story, I ended up having a very busy and stressful summer and my writing has suffered since then. I'm hoping to start updating this more regularly especially since I'm about to be off of work for Christmas. :) Please let me know what you think of this chapter, it kind of got away from me!

Thanks, as always, for the reviews!

* * *

I ended up spending more time with the string quartet, now that we had the additional pop music to practice (in addition to the music that we already had to prepare for our first performance hour that was coming up fast). We had agreed on additional evening practices twice a week until we had everything down for the wedding.

In that time, I grew closer to Shikamaru and Hinata. Shikamaru and I, as it turned out, shared the same dry sense of humor and Hinata was too sweet to dislike. Sai, on the other hand, continued to annoy the crap out of me.

"Sakura, you're a little late on that part in measure thirty," Sai pointed out during one of our many practices.

"I have the same rhythm as Shikamaru in that section," I replied. It was more of an open statement than anything. I was tired of him commenting on everything that I did.

"My fault," Shikamaru said. "I was early."

I gave Shikamaru a confused look and he shrugged. He was probably just trying to get us to calm down. Shikamaru was sort of perfect at everything without even trying.

"Either way," Sai sniffed, "it's still not together. We have one week left until the performance and it still hasn't been enough."

"Relax, Sai." Hinata smiled hesitantly. "We'll have it by then. Maybe we should cut practice short today..."

We ended up doing that, after listening to Sai threaten that he wouldn't tolerate the quartet to sound bad on our first real gig. Like we were even asking.

That week was also supposed to be when Sasuke and I started to meet to put our parts together. I had heard him practicing the accompaniment part to our music in the hallway a week before, and it had sounded amazing. After that, I had started practicing even more intently - determined to be on the same level as him by the time we started practicing together.

When the day came, I still didn't feel prepared. Despite being friendly with me now - and he had been, as much as Sasuke could really be - I hadn't played anything with him since chamber music camp. It was something that I was dreading and looking forward to at the same time. Playing music with Sasuke had been one of my favorite things back when we had been together - for that same reason I was afraid. What if it brought back too many memories?

 _You're being stupid,_ I thought, on my way to the practice, _it's just for a class. It's not like he chose this._

To my surprise, Sasuke was already in the practice room that we had reserved when I arrived. "Hey," he greeted me.

I nodded to him, and began to tune my violin - something that I had already done an hour ago. Helpfully, Sasuke provided me with notes on the piano to tune with. I liked the pianos at Konoha University - they were always fairly in tune. Shikamaru, who had perfect pitch coincidentally, always talked about how much he loved how in tune they were-

"How are you?" Sasuke interrupted my racing thoughts.

"Oh um... I'm fine," I answered. Why was I so nervous? Was this going to happen every time we practiced? I thought I had some control over how I acted around my ex-boyfriend, but apparently not. "How are you?"

Sasuke shrugged. There was an expression on his face that I couldn't read, then he smirked. "I'll be better when I don't have to study for this Theory test tomorrow. Kakashi is going to be the death of me."

That made me laugh. "Is it hard having your private lessons teacher for something other than piano?" I couldn't imagine taking an actual class from Tsunade.

"I definitely feel pressure." The smirk turned more into a smile. I felt weak.

"What piece do you want to start with?" I turned to my music.

"Why don't we start with the Grieg, Chopin, then the Elgar?" Sasuke suggested.

"Sounds good." I tucked my violin underneath my chin. The Grieg was something that I had been working on the longest - I was proud of it.

I started the piece, and it was like nothing had changed between us. The Grieg was dark and tumultuous, but I didn't feel that way when Sasuke played along with me. I felt invigorated. Even though we hadn't been together like this in over a year, it was like our instruments still remembered each other. Like our bodies still did. Just like before, he was flawless on piano.

We played through the entire piece, not stopping once. When it was over, we smiled at each other. It was the first time that I had seen Sasuke so smile genuinely in so long that it just about took my breath away.

"I missed playing with you," Sasuke said. "It's never been the same with anyone else."

"It hasn't been the same for me either," I whispered.

We moved onto the Chopin, which required more practice to get it lined up. We worked through a few sections and decided to revisit it for the next practice now that we knew what we needed to work on. It wasn't until the last piece, "Salut d'Amour" (a.k.a. the bane of my existence so far) that it happened.

"Kakashi said it would be good to go a little bit slower in the beginning and then follow your lead," Sasuke said. "So don't worry about stretching phrases how you want, I'll make sure that we stay together."

I nodded. "Just so you know, this hasn't ah... been my best one."

"I'm sure it sounds fine." Sasuke turned to the right page in his notebook. It contained all of his solo music and accompanying music - basically his whole life. "I'll start when you're ready."

I nodded again, and he began to play the first few chords of the piece. I joined in, and it was like everything fell into place. Suddenly everything that Tsunade had told me about stretching the melody didn't seem so foreign anymore. Like he said he would, Sasuke kept up perfectly. As I played, I thought about everything that I had been avoiding - how much I had missed playing with Sasuke, how much I had missed Sasuke in general, and how it had felt to be with him. The emotions took over and I knew I was a goner.

When the piece was over, we were both silent.

"Sakura, I-" Sasuke began to say, but I interrupted him.

"I have to go now," I said, already packing up my violin. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sakura wait!" He said again, but I was already out the door. I ran down the hall, down three flights of stairs and out into the cool fall air. I didn't realize that I was crying until I touched my face and felt the tears.

"Hey," Ino greeted me when I entered the dorm room. "I was thinking about ordering a pizza. Would you..." She trailed off when she turned around and saw my face. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

I shook my head and wiped away the tears that had escaped from my eyes. I hadn't been expecting Ino to be there. "It's hard to explain," I replied.

Ino straightened up, making room for me on her bed. She patted the space next to her. "Try me."

I sighed, and moved to sit down next to her. "I practiced with Sasuke for the first time this evening and it went really well."

She looked confused. "It went well?" I could feel her skepticism. I guess it didn't make a lot of sense, with me crying and all.

I shrugged. "Like I said, it's hard to explain. I guess... I missed it. And I'm not happy about it."

Ino nodded. "I think I'm starting to understand. You need pizza and Netflix, right away."

We ended up ordering pizza and watching some cheesy movie that Ino had been wanting to watch. I had to admit, it really did make me feel better.

I sort of avoided Sasuke ever since that night. I knew I was being stupid - it's not like I wouldn't have to meet up with him in a week - but I didn't care. It didn't help that he always seemed to be trying to meet my eyes whenever we had a class together. I caught him looking at me a few times in Music Theory the next day. Childishly, I ignored him. I was too embarrassed from my reaction when we had practiced.

* * *

The weekend after that was the date of the wedding - that Saturday. Shikamaru, who happened to have a van, offered to drive us into the city that day to make things easier.

I ended up in front of the music building with Hinata, our cases in tow, waiting for him to pick us up. We had met up earlier that day to get in a last-minute practice. I had to admit, everything we played pretty much sounded professional-grade - at least it did to me. Not even Sai could find something to complain about.

We had been instructed to dress in all-black. It was an evening wedding, and we were required to blend into the background anyway. Still, it was pretty formal. Ino had ended up letting me borrow a dress that she had in our shared closet, off the shoulder and black, and she had twisted my hair up into a sophisticated updo that I would never be able to recreate. Hinata, standing beside me, was wearing a long-sleeved dress that reached the tops of her knees, along with black tights and combat boots. There was a black flower clipped into her hair that tied it all together.

"How late do you think Shikamaru's going to be this time?" I complained. Shikamaru was late pretty consistently. I guess I should have expected it.

Hinata shrugged. "Hopefully no later than usual." She smiled then. "I can't believe this is our first gig."

Her smile was so contagious that I found myself smiling back. "Our first of many," I replied. At least I hoped it would be.

Shikamaru pulled up at that second, stepping out of the car to help Hinata put her cello case carefully in the back. I noticed that Sai had already claimed shotgun. I guess he had run into Shikamaru on the way over.

"You're looking... adequate." Sai greeted me when I slid into the back of the van.

I sighed. "You don't look bad yourself." I had to admit, both Sai and Shikamaru cleaned up well.

We spent the twenty minute drive to the hotel listening to music and chatting - only occasionally having to help Shikamaru navigate through the different roads that we had to take. Even though Sai was there, it was easy. I guess you have to learn how to get along with certain people if you spend all of your time with them.

When we reached the part of the city where the hotel was, I gasped. We were further downtown than Ino and I had ever gone, and it was obviously a very rich area. Once we reached the hotel, a complimentary valet took Shikamaru's van after we took the instruments out of the vehicle.

"Wow," I said. "This is..."

"Crazy?" Hinata completed my sentence.

I nodded. "Completely."

A stressed-looking woman in a suit found us as soon as we entered through the front of the building. The hotel was even more lavish on the inside - with high ceilings and marble floors. "You must be the string quartet," she said.

"That's us," Shikamaru said. How could he seem so calm in this situation?

"Excellent." The woman nodded. "Follow me please."

We trailed behind her, until we reached one of the many ballrooms that the hotel contained. I resisted the instinct to gasp when I saw the room. Somehow, the walls were bathed in a faint purple light. There were rows of white chairs on either side of an aisle that was lined with white flowers and greenery. At the front, an arch had been constructed that was covered in the same white flowers that framed the aisle.

"You can start warming up," the woman said. "We have chairs for you towards the front." She gestured across the room, towards the pretty arch that I had been admiring. "I trust that you are aware that the ceremony starts in an hour and a half?"

Sai nodded. "We are."

"Good." She nodded in approval. "The bride requests that you start playing prelude music an hour before the ceremony while the guests are coming in. That gives you... half an hour to start preparing. I'll see you later." She exited promptly after that.

When she was gone, I think we all exhaled a little.

"Okay," Sai said. "Let's get tuned and ready. We need to run through certain sections..." As he talked, I found myself gazing around the room again. I wondered how many people would be attending this, and why Tsunade had thought that we would be good enough to play. This was a lot of trust to put into a freshman quartet.

"Stop doubting yourself, Sakura." Shikamaru's voice interrupted my thoughts.

I shook my head. "How did you even know?"

He just snorted. "It's all over your face."

Sai coughed. "I believe we should start tuning now."

Once the guests started filling the room, we were prepared. We started off with "Chasing Cars", leading into the melodies easily. From where I sat, I could see that everyone entering the room looked pretty important. From what Tsunade had said, everyone at the wedding was pretty influential. The guests chatted to each other politely while they found their seats, and I wondered who they were.

Tsunade entered the room herself, along with Jiraya, when we were briefly taking the time to play the Beethoven Sonata arrangement. They waved when we spotted them and I could have sworn that I saw Tsunade give me a tiny smile before she sat down.

"It's smooth sailing so far," Shikamaru whispered to me briefly between pieces. "I mean, it's not like they're really listening to us, but..."

We continued going through the song list as the room started to become more crowded. I happened to be facing the door, and it was easy enough to look around when I had rests or when I was just repeating sections. I had always been able to keep my composure when I was playing, so it shocked even me when I missed a note in my section of "Somewhere Only We Know".

Sai glared at me, and I gave everyone an apologetic look as I tried to pick up the slack. The reason for the break in my attention was the fact that, out of all the potential guests, Sasuke had walked through the door, accompanied by a pretty blonde girl. Even worse, he seemed to notice me immediately, meeting eyes with me when I messed up.

After my mistake, I became determined to ignore him. There was no way that I was going to let Sasuke get to me this bad. I tried to ignore the pang of heartache that I had felt when I saw the blonde girl laugh at something he had said. _Besides, what is he even doing here anyway?_ I thought to myself.

When it was time for the wedding ceremony to start, I only focused on my music and the eyes of everyone in the string quartet. I couldn't let myself get unfocused, not this time.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly after my little mistake. I saw Tsunade give us a nod of approval when the ceremony ended and we began to play the processional, before she walked into the other room where the reception would take place.

When it was over, and all of the guests were gone, I think we all exhaled at the same time.

"Perfect," Sai said. "Besides Sakura's little mishap."

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I got distracted for a second."

"I don't think anyone noticed," Hinata reassured me.

"I did," I heard Sai mutter.

Before I could reply back with a rude comment, Hinata interrupted me. "Why don't we go get some free food at the reception?" She offered.

"I think that sounds like a good idea," Shikamaru answered.

Sai and I followed them down the hallway to the reception room, still grumpy.

The reception room was decorated almost the same as the hall where the ceremony took place, but was even larger and more lavish. There were tons of tables with name cards placed strategically with guests' names on them, but still with ample room to dance. We had missed the first dance when we had been putting away our instruments and stands and now there were more couples on the dance floor. My heart sunk into my stomach when I saw that Sasuke was dancing with the pretty blonde girl that he had come here with. I could see her laughing at something that he had whispered to her.

 _Stupid,_ I chided myself. It's not like he was mine to be jealous for anyway.

To our surprise, there was even a small table labeled "string quartet" with food already set up.

"I wish Choji could be here to see this," Shikamaru mentioned his best friend from the music department. "He would love it."

"Hey everyone," Tsunade greeted us. She was beaming and I felt my stomach lurch for another reason. My teacher was proud of us. "I think I can go ahead and say that the performance went really well. I haven't personally spoken to the President of the school yet, but I have a feeling that he will share my opinion."

We balked at her. It wasn't every day that your music professor told you something like that about your performance, at least, not with Tsunade.

"Are you going to say anything?" She joked. I realized that there was a slight flush to her cheeks - she had been drinking.

"T-thank you," I said finally. "We're... happy that you liked it."

Sai nodded. "Thank you, also, for the performance opportunity. We're happy that we could represent the university in this way." Dammit, how was he always so eloquent?

"Feel free to stick around for a while," Tsunade said. "There are a few other pretty good musicians here - a good opportunity for you to do some networking, if you choose." She pointed out a few prominent members of well-known symphonies that were also in the room. "It might be good to speak to them since most of you are performance majors. Sakura, I believe that your dad worked with a few of them too."

The mention of my dad shocked me out of my feelings for Sasuke momentarily. Maybe it would be good to try and make connections with them.

When she left, Shikamaru shrugged. "Might as well."

I was about to head over to one of the violinists that Tsunade was talking about, but noticed that Sasuke and the blonde girl had disappeared. I suddenly felt lightheaded. _Dammit,_ I thought, _not now._

"I'm going to step outside for a minute," I told Hinata. "I just... need some air."

I was out before she could respond.

I ended up outside of the hotel again, sitting on a park bench. The area outside was strangely deserted, but I welcomed being alone. It was cold outside, there was no way around saying that, and since I hadn't brought my coat I wouldn't last out there for long. Still, I welcomed the cold. Maybe it would be able to numb the emotions that were now resurfacing - emotions that I had thought I had thoroughly suppressed a year ago. In addition to that, there was anger. Why was I still so affected by Sasuke? Even though we had gone a year without contact, it felt like nothing had changed when I was around him, even though everything had.

Dammit, it was frustrating.

I wiped a tear away in surprise, I hadn't realized that I was so worked up by this. And why was I so upset? It wasn't like Sasuke had some weird claim onto what I did with my life - why was he even _here?_ That's what annoyed me the most.

My hurt feelings turned to frustration, which turned to anger. How could he still control the way I felt like this? In fact, how dare he? In that moment, I found the nerve to go back inside. A quick look in a compact mirror told me that my makeup hadn't been ruined from the traitorous tear that had escaped earlier. Ino had done a good job, I thought.

I began walking down the hallway that led back to the reception room - it was strangely dim, only lit by tiny string lights. I guess it was supposed to be romantic.

"I've been looking for you," A voice said. "Why weren't you at the reception?"

I shrieked. Sasuke was leaning on the wall to my right. I hadn't even seen him approach me.

I thought about the rest of my quartet members, who had been using the time to network and make new connections. Then I thought about how much it hurt to see Sasuke dancing with the pretty blonde girl, followed by the anger. "I'm not feeling well," I lied.

"Liar," he smirked. "I can tell, remember?"

Damn. Sasuke always knew when I was lying. He said I squinted too much when it happened.

"What are you doing here?" I finally said.

He shrugged. "My father was invited, but wasn't able to make it. A lot of important people in the business world are here and he wanted me to make a good impression."

That surprised me. When we had been dating, Sasuke and his father had always had a strained relationship. He didn't like talking much about it, but I think they just had a hard time relating to each other. It was sort of a shock to hear that he was trying to please him now.

"It wouldn't be a huge deal," Sasuke said, "if I wanted to do something with a business degree after college. I am double-majoring though, so I guess it'll help in the long run."

I was having a hard time being angry now, I wanted to ask him so many questions. "Wait, you're double majoring in Business and Music? Are you crazy?"

He only shrugged again.

"What do you want, anyway?" I snapped, annoyed again.

"I told you," he replied, taking a step forward. "I was looking for you. I didn't know you would be performing. You sounded good, by the way."

"Thanks," I said. "I think... it could have been better."

He shook his head and one of the corners of his mouth turned up a little, like he was trying not to smile. "You always say that about your performances, but they're usually perfect."

I laughed. "Whatever! You were always the perfect one."

"Do you want to tell me about what happened last week?" He changed the subject. "I've been trying to talk to you about it, but I feel like you've been avoiding me."

I just groaned. "I knew you would want to talk about that. Honestly, I don't want to talk about it. I don't know what that was."

"I felt it too, Sakura," he said quietly.

I stared back in surprise. Were we really having this conversation? "I don't know what you're talking about," I said stubbornly, even though I could feel my heart beating faster. "Besides, don't you have a date that you need to go back to?"

He shrugged again. "To be honest, it was my father's idea. Another good connection to have - she's a daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur. You, on the other hand..."

"What am I?" I said, taking the bait. Dammit.

"Beautiful," Sasuke answered, unabashedly. "I couldn't stop looking at you all night."

I was suddenly aware of how close he was to me.

"Sasuke," I began. "What are you doing?" He was even closer now, and I could hardly catch my breath. Broken up or not, I was still attracted to him.

Slowly, he reached down and touched my cheek. "Is this okay?"

Any resistance I had melted away. I nodded slowly, closing my eyes. I was really going to regret this later. What good intentions did Sasuke have?

Carefully, he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I gasped, and wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer. If I was going to ruin my life, I might as well go all out. Sasuke responded by pressing me closer into the wall, wrapping his arms around my waist. There was no space at all between us now. We continued to kiss, and all of the parts of me that felt broken suddenly felt whole.

There was a loud crash in the hallway, and we broke apart, still gasping for air. One of the waiters had dropped a tray outside of the ballroom. The sound was enough to break me out of my Sasuke-related stupor, and I realized what I had been doing.

"Oh my god," I said. "I-I have to go." I dodged Sasuke's grasp, and started hurrying down the hallway.

"Sakura, wait!" He called after me, but I ignored him, breaking out into a run.


End file.
